#PNWPokerCalendar Planner for 18 May 2016

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Wild Kingdom

I published the last hands of my Wild Kingdom series on Monday. It’s an all-cards exposed examination of a Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Bounty tournament. There’s an index to all of the posts in the series (each covering about 20 hands). Shorter reading than the 300+ hands in the NLHE 6-Max series I did back in February and March, but more cards!

Portland Meadows Poker Room Is Open

The first tournament at the latest entry into the Portland poker market was played on Monday at noon in North Portland. New tables, new chairs, new space, though you might want to wear a jacket on cooler days as Portland Meadows is a big building with some draft coming in through the doors.

photo by Alex Ratchkov via Facebook

The first event drew 62 entries. It was a semi-freezeout with addons but no rebuys; the first prize pool was $3,440. The Poker Mutant was the second player out with jacks running into kings, but…

photo by Portland Meadows Poker via Facebook

Poker Keyboard Pro

If you use an iPad or iPhone to take notes on hands, you might be interested in an app that adds a keyboard with buttons for the suits, as well as terms like check, bet, straddle, flop, and river. Not sure if I’ll get a chance (or want) to use it in a couple of weeks at the WSOP—it may not be fast enough for some of the freeform notes I’ll need to take—but for a couple of bucks it’s worth checking out.

poker_keyboard

World Series of Poker

The WSOP kicks off in two weeks, with the first bracelet event, the Casino Employees NLHE getting under way on 1 June at 11am. There’s actually action going on the day before, with registration opening 31 May, along with live action and satellites.

If you’re not already aware of it, the WSOP is trying to ease the pain of waiting in lines this year with a couple of changes to the registration and payout processes.

If you’re not playing the Colossus (which starts just two weeks from tomorrow), you may still have time to take advantage of the new online registration process. The WSOP is using a system provided by Bravo—the company that makes the software used for live and tournament poker rooms in Vegas—to handle registration and payment (you can now use credit cards for events of $1.5K and smaller). Once you’ve signed up for the Bravo card and submitted a payment, you go to the Rotunda outside the poker area and do an in-person verification, and you’ll get your registrations for every tournament you’ve pre-registered for. After you’ve done the verification, if you register online for another tournament, you’ll be able to pick up your seat assignments and receipts at kiosks in the Rotunda. You can read more about the process at PokerNews.

As Chad Holloway reported last summer during the Colossus, meant “An hour and a half passed and the line didn’t seem to be making much progress” beginning about 10pm on the night the event hit the money. This year, the WSOP will be paying 15% of the entries, meaning half again as many people from every tournament will be getting into the money. To alleviate the payout problem, the WSOP is installing eQueue kiosks to be used “If excessive lines begin to form.” eQueue sets up a time for when you can go to the payout station and pick up your cash without standing in line.

If you’ve got people back home following you but you’re not likely to be picked up for the chip counts at WSOP.com by the stupid live reporters, you can use the new ChipIn mobile app to update reports on your chip stack that will get published on the site. The app goes live on 1 June and requires you to log in with your Ceasar’s Total Rewards card (which you should have since you need it to get seated at the tournament table).

More about eQueue and ChipIn in the official WSOP announcement.

World Poker Tour Season XV Schedule Announced

Late-breaking news from yesterday afternoon: the WPT’s new schedule is out and one of the first events in the season comes right after the WSOP, at Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles from 28 July to 1 September. Other usual West Coast stops are December’s move into Bellagio in Las Vegas, the January to March Los Angeles Poker Classic at Commerce Casino, and the rest of the California Swing in March at Bay 101 in San Jose and Sacramento’s Thunder Valley.

This Week in Portland Poker

  • Coming up 21 May at 2pm at The Game is a WSOP Main Event satellite event. $100 entry/rebuy and $50 addon and the winner receives a package including a seat and travel to Las Vegas. It’s been on the #PNWPokerCalendar for a couple of weeks; but it’s up against the three-seat tournament just announced at Portland Meadows. Which satellite will reign supreme?
  • Saturday is the beginning of the weeklong Portland Meadows Poker Room Championship Poker Series, covered in the Deal last week. 15 events, kicking off with a noon game with $33K in WSOP Main Event seats guaranteed (each with $1K in travel expenses).
  • Big O for those of you for whom two cards are not enough, at The Players Club on Friday night at 6pm.

Only a Day Away

  • Tomorrow is Day 1D for the Rivercard $150K at Pala Casino north of San Diego. There are daily entry flights (except for Mondays and Tuesdays) through 28 May. Day 2 on 29 May.
  • There are two more flights tomorrow for the Gardens Poker Festival  $500K guarantee tournament.
  • The Deepstack Extravaganza Warm-Up at The Venetian drew 196 players for Day 1A of the $100K guarantee kickoff event. Day 1C is today with Day 2 tomorrow. Tomorrow are two bounty events (noon and 7pm), with Omaha Hi-Lo Friday morning, and two two-day events starting on Friday and Saturday at noon. The Warm-Up ends next Wednesday, with the full Extravaganza starting Thursday.
  • Sacramento’s Stones Gambling Hall hosts the $100K guarantee Hydra tournament with two flights each day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and Day 2 on 28 May.
  • Jason Somerville’s Run It Up Reno starts 24 May at the Peppermill Casino. The first couple of days include a $235 entry with added Main Event seats, an All-In-Or-Fold, a Survivor tournament, and PLO 6-Max.
  • The May Showdown at Vancouver’s River Rock Casino runs 25 to 29 May. Three events: #220 on Wednesday, $330 Turbo on Thursday, and two entry days on Friday and Saturday to the $550 Main Event, with Day 2 on Sunday.

Check out the #PNWPokerCalendar for more poker.